skilled labor
Americannoun
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labor that requires special training for its satisfactory performance.
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the workers employed in such labor.
Etymology
Origin of skilled labor
First recorded in 1770–80
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
That’s as those companies face bottlenecks from lack of contractors, skilled labor, equipment and transmission to deliver power to compute, he said.
From MarketWatch • Dec. 29, 2025
Only a handful of emerging economies combine digital capability, a skilled labor force, and a meaningful export base in tech.
From Barron's • Dec. 22, 2025
Some experts are skeptical of startup efforts to solve what is more fundamentally a skilled labor shortage.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 10, 2025
If we reframe parenthood as a form of skilled labor instead of an innate instinct, we can find room for both men and women to excel as parents.
From Slate • Jun. 15, 2025
Marx in his utterances on value cannot escape the lurking ghost of highly skilled labor.
From Landmarks of Scientific Socialism "Anti-Duehring" by Engels, Friedrich
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.